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On a peculiar occurrence (first released connected May 8, 2025) of The Excerpt podcast: What if the 2nd fractional of beingness could beryllium conscionable arsenic healthy, active, and fulfilling arsenic the first? Drawing connected the latest science, world-renowned cardiologist and researcher Dr. Eric Topol challenges outdated ideas astir aging and reveals however factors similar exercise, sleep, societal transportation and cutting-edge AI tools tin assistance america widen not conscionable our lifespan—but our healthspan. Dr. Topol joins The Excerpt to stock insights from his caller publication "Super Agers: An Evidence-Based Approach to Longevity."
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Hit play connected the subordinate beneath to perceive the podcast and travel on with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and past edited for clarity successful its existent form. There whitethorn beryllium immoderate differences betwixt the audio and the text.
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Dana Taylor:
Hello and invited to The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. In an epoch wherever aging is often framed arsenic thing to defy oregon reverse, Dr. Eric Topol offers a acold much empowering vision. What if the 2nd fractional of our lives could beryllium conscionable arsenic vibrant and steadfast arsenic the first?
In his latest book, Super Agers, an evidence-based attack to longevity, the renowned cardiologist, researcher, and writer lays retired a bold data-driven roadmap to extending, not conscionable however agelong we live, but however good we live. In summation to years of research, Dr. Topol has besides been recognized by Time arsenic 1 of the 100 astir influential radical starring alteration successful the aesculapian community. Dr. Topol, convey you for joining me.
Dr. Eric Topol:
Great to beryllium with you, Dana.
Dana Taylor:
In the publication you sermon the conception of wellness span versus lifespan. What's the quality and which 1 should radical absorption connected to amended longevity?
Dr. Eric Topol:
Well, we don't truly privation unrecorded to 110 and beryllium demented oregon person each sorts of different chronic diseases. But connected the different hand, if we could unrecorded good into our 90s and person nary chronic diseases, the large 3 age-related ones, cancer, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative, that would beryllium the goal. So I deliberation astir everyone would hold that wellness span overrides lifespan oregon longevity.
Dana Taylor:
You reason that genes play a amazingly constricted relation successful steadfast aging contempt decades of genomic research. What was the astir astonishing happening you learned from your study?
Dr. Eric Topol:
So immoderate years agone we did a survey we called the Wellderly, and we enrolled 1400 people, mean property of astir 87, who had ne'er had a chronic illness, an age-related disease. And we thought the full genome sequencing was going to demystify everything. But arsenic it turned out, we recovered precise little. And truthful truly the accent that has been enactment connected our genes for steadfast aging is misplaced. It's a tiny component, but determination are galore different factors, particularly what I telephone lifestyle-plus factors, that look to play the ascendant role.
Dana Taylor:
Well, you mentioned the profound interaction of physical, regular carnal activity, connected wellness span. Can you elaborate connected the types of exercises that are astir beneficial?
Dr. Eric Topol:
Well, arsenic a cardiologist, I would ever advocator aerobic exercise. Like surely you're walking and bicycling, treadmill, swimming, that benignant of thing. But what has been truly bonzer successful caller years is the information that supports spot oregon absorption training. As good arsenic equilibrium training, things similar posture. But particularly getting stronger arsenic we get older, due to the fact that our musculus wide is decreasing. And to antagonistic that, to forestall frailty, to beforehand steadfast aging, absorption training, which is advocated astatine slightest 3 times a week, is thing that's truly rather important.
Dana Taylor:
In an property of Ozempic and personalized medicine, however bash you spot the equilibrium betwixt behavioral changes and pharmaceutical solutions successful promoting nationalist health?
Dr. Eric Topol:
It's a large question, Dana, due to the fact that the GLP-1 drugs similar Ozempic caught america by surprise. Because, arsenic I wrote successful the book, for 20 years they were astir for diabetes, but the radical taking these medications with diabetes didn't person overmuch value loss. So we were misled. And present we're seeing not conscionable the marked effects connected value loss, but besides connected galore different conditions, adjacent immoderate not related to value nonaccomplishment astatine all.
But the overriding happening is the manner factors. The exercise, the types of nutrition and diet, and that does see our assemblage weight, and besides of people sleep. But past the manner factors widen to things similar societal isolation, clip successful nature, vulnerability to biology toxins similar tiny particulate aerial pollution, microplastics, everlastingly chemicals, and the database goes on. But we person an admixture wherever manner factors are the astir important, but present we person a cause people that came retired of obscurity successful caller years that is astir apt the astir momentous cause people owed to its simplification of inflammation. And of people is present being tested successful Alzheimer's successful radical who are not adjacent overweight.
Dana Taylor:
As you mentioned, slumber is ace important successful maintaining health. Can you explicate the relation of the glymphatic strategy successful slumber and its interaction connected encephalon health?
Dr. Eric Topol:
Yeah, truthful the glymphatics, not lymphatics, are the drainage strategy for our brain, which gets activated during heavy sleep, the dilatory question benignant of sleep. And that heavy slumber is truthful essential. Unfortunately, arsenic we get older, it gets decreased successful the magnitude of time. It tends to travel successful the earlier phases of sleep, interestingly, not... you deliberation heavy that it would beryllium precocious successful the night, but it's not the case. And we privation to maximize that due to the fact that that's the champion mode we get our brains refreshed and get escaped of the worldly that's successful our encephalon done the glymphatic system, which is simply a comparatively caller discovery, that there's this elaborate strategy for fundamentally pumping retired these toxins from our encephalon that accumulate each day. So slumber wellness is acold much important to forestall these age-related diseases than we'd ever truly recognized before.
Dana Taylor:
You stress the relation of AI successful gathering personalized wellness forecasts. What bash you deliberation is the top accidental and the top hazard of integrating AI into preventative medicine?
Dr. Eric Topol:
I deliberation this is present the adjacent frontier. It's truthful breathtaking to spot this starting to instrumentality hold. If you person each of a person's data, and present we person tests that tin foretell Alzheimer's implicit 20 years earlier it happens, and each 3 of the large age-related diseases instrumentality astatine slightest 20 years to incubate. So if you person each of a person's data, and present that includes things similar organ clocks from a humor sample, these caller proteins similar PTOW 217 for Alzheimer's and alleged epigenetic clocks.
So the constituent present is that the subject of aging has brought america each these caller information types we ne'er had before. So we tin instrumentality a idiosyncratic and say, "You're not astatine hazard for immoderate of these 3 large diseases," oregon we tin say, "Pinpoint, you're astatine hazard for this disease," and accidental when. Not conscionable that you're astatine risk. And truthful that gives america the quality to, with AI, it requires multimodal AI due to the fact that it's billions of information points. But that gives america the quality to commencement to enactment a idiosyncratic nether surveillance for that concern, that disease, and get each implicit it and forestall it. Something we've ne'er been capable to bash successful the past of medicine.
Dana Taylor:
I privation to excavation into biology toxins due to the fact that it's a important interest successful Super Agers. What are immoderate communal biology exposures that radical should beryllium alert of? And however tin they minimize their risk?
Dr. Eric Topol:
So this is thing that's fundamentally chasing our tails. We person each these caller capabilities for promoting steadfast aging and steadfast longevity. But connected the different hand, we're seeing accrued vulnerability to aerial pollution, which is hard to antagonistic but for having aerial filtration successful your location and being attentive to aerial quality.
Then the next, of course, is the occupation with microplastics, et cetera, getting to each portion of our assemblage and particularly our bosom arteries and our brain, and implicated successful conditions similar bosom attacks, strokes, and higher hazard of dementia. So however bash we get escaped of plastics? That's hard. We tin surely trim the intake of things that are successful plastics. Don't microwave things that are successful integrative containers, don't usage integrative immoderate mode we tin debar it.
And that of people besides applies to everlastingly chemicals that are pervasive successful truthful galore things, wherever we unfortunately, Dana, don't person the nationalist precedence similar they bash successful immoderate parts of Europe and different parts of the world, to trim the toll of these large biology risks that are unluckily mitigating the advancement that we're making. So we tin bash immoderate things astatine the idiosyncratic and household level, but we besides request things to hap astatine the nationalist level.
Dana Taylor:
You research the imaginable of personalized nutrition utilizing AI successful the book. How tin AI revolutionize our attack to fare and nutrition for amended outcomes?
Dr. Eric Topol:
So we don't cognize yet whether that volition instrumentality hold, but it's a truly intriguing prospect. And the constituent is we each metabolize the nutrient that we eat, the things that we drink, wholly differently. So if you and I had the nonstop aforesaid food, the amount, the nonstop aforesaid timing, 1 of america would person perchance a glucose spike and the different 1 would person nary summation successful glucose astatine all, and the aforesaid would beryllium with different things similar lipids.
So the constituent being is that if we tin recognize what is the uniqueness of each of us, and we tin bash that starting present with sensors and different ways similar our gut microbiome, which turns retired to beryllium precise important, past possibly we'll get to a constituent wherever we tin say, these foods are not bully for you due to the fact that they're perchance going to summation your progression from pre-diabetes to diabetes. On the different hand, these foods mightiness assistance you trim your hazard of cancer. And truthful each of america has propensity for either payment oregon imaginable hazard from foods, and truthful a batch of enactment is being done to decode each that. And the NIH has a precise large survey that's ongoing, and hopefully implicit the years up we mightiness beryllium capable to ace the case. But it's inactive thing that's a imaginable and not a world yet.
Dana Taylor:
Recent investigations person formed uncertainty connected the validity of Blue Zones. These are parts of the satellite that person precocious concentrations of radical surviving longer and healthier lives similar Okinawa, Japan, for example. Some critics are suggesting that factors similar unreliable record-keeping and imaginable property misreporting whitethorn undermine claims of exceptional longevity successful these regions. Given your accent connected evidence-based approaches to aging, however bash you measure the credibility of the Blue Zones conception and what lessons should we instrumentality distant from this contention erstwhile identifying models for steadfast aging?
Dr. Eric Topol:
Yeah, I'm truthful gladsome you asked astir that due to the fact that present we person to see the Blue Zones arsenic a existent myth. The much it's been looked into precise carefully, the lack of grounds for the steadfast aging longevity successful these zones of the satellite has ne'er been confirmed. Poor records and inability to corroborate the information astir these radical that were thought to beryllium these special, exceptional, steadfast agers is simply a existent problem.
There's nary question that we, arsenic I contiguous successful the book, you know, a 98-year-old radical who are wholly healthy, ne'er had an age-related chronic disease, but determination doesn't look to beryllium immoderate portion successful the satellite that is special. There whitethorn beryllium a clump of radical present and determination similar successful Okinawa oregon Italy arsenic was presented successful Blue Zones. But it's been hyped up unluckily to the nth degree, and it conscionable lacks the important grounds to enactment it.
Dana Taylor:
Looking ahead, Super Agers discusses aboriginal possibilities for altering the aging process. What are immoderate of the astir breathtaking technological advancements connected the skyline that could alteration however we age?
Dr. Eric Topol:
What excites me, and what I deliberation is precise different, is from this subject of aging, that is we person each these clocks present we didn't person before. And truthful the near-term, 1 of those things we conscionable talked astir whitethorn click eventually, but nary of them are determination yet. And it whitethorn instrumentality years earlier immoderate are shown to beryllium harmless and effective.
But connected the different hand, we tin present foretell a person's arc of age-related diseases present dissimilar ever before, and it's conscionable going to support getting better. And that's wherefore I deliberation the subject of aging brings america contiguous a batch of breathtaking potential. Because if we tin suppress the 3 age-related large diseases, the large killers, that's accomplishing a immense amount, that doesn't necessitate 1 of these elegant approaches to reverse aging. Instead of reversing aging, it's preventing the age-related diseases.
Dana Taylor:
Dr. Eric Topol's, caller publication Super Agers is connected bookshelves now. Eric, convey you for joining maine connected The Excerpt.
Dr. Eric Topol:
Thanks truthful overmuch for having me, Dana.
Dana Taylor:
Thanks for watching. I'm Dana Taylor. I'll spot you adjacent time.
And I'm going to bash 1 speedy thing. It's conscionable for audio. Thanks to our elder producers, Shannon Rae Green and Kaylee Monaghan for their accumulation assistance. Our enforcement shaper is Laura Beatty. Let america cognize what you deliberation of this occurrence by sending a enactment to podcasts@usatoday.com. Thanks for listening, I'm Dana Taylor. Taylor Wilson volition beryllium backmost time greeting with different occurrence of The Excerpt.
This nonfiction primitively appeared connected USA TODAY: Dr. Eric Topol shares a caller imaginativeness for surviving longer and better
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